


Romania

by Clarensjoy



Series: Harry and Ginny: Post Canon [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Humor, Post-War, The Burrow (Harry Potter)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:26:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24864514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clarensjoy/pseuds/Clarensjoy
Summary: ‘Hi Charlie, this is Harry Potter. You probably don’t know him; he hasn’t done anything very notable in his life yet. In fact, what he often claims as his most remarkable achievement, is dating me.’George's first birthday after the war is difficult for everyone, and the whole Weasley family is home to celebrate it with him, even Charlie, all the way from Romania.
Relationships: Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley
Series: Harry and Ginny: Post Canon [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1903456
Comments: 22
Kudos: 183





	Romania

**Romania**

‘Charlie has been staring at me like I’m a blast-ended-skrewt the whole afternoon,’ Harry grumbled to Ginny. His voice was low and thick through the sleepy haze they had both fallen into, lying in the sun underneath the branches of one of the orchard trees. She lifted her chin from his chest to look behind her, craning her neck and pressing into him at the awkward angle.

‘You’re wrong.’

‘Excuse me?’

‘That’s not how he looks at blast-ended-skrewts. He looks at those things same way Hagrid does, like they’re his own children. _That look_ is reserved for speccy black haired boys who have their hands on his baby sisters back.’

Harry spluttered some nonsense at her comment and Ginny turned back to him and laughed, then placed a soft kiss on his lips to calm his indignation.

‘I think he’s having a hard time of it, being home. He forgets that while he was in Romania, we all grew up and moved on,’ Ginny said thoughtfully, placing her head back on his chest. Harry moved his hand up from the small of her back to play with her hair, trying to avoid Charlie’s periodic glances shot their way. They weren’t necessarily threatening, but questioning- as in- “who is that with Ginny and why is everyone else here not bothered at all with him?”

Charlie had arrived last night in time for George’s birthday, which had turned out, unsurprisingly, to be a rather sordid affair. The memory of Fred had stained the whole day. Mrs Weasley had vacillated quite alarmingly between hysterical sobbing and plastered smiles, forcing everyone to be happy. She had started to cry when decorating the cake, when they sang for George and when she handed him his gift, two jumpers, instead of one.

George had seemed to experience it all while in a trance, accepting hugs loosely and sitting at the table slumped while he pushed the food on his plate around. The rest of them had tried to offset the mood with idle chatter about the Ministry and Hogwarts. Hermione and Ron had returned from Australia and fuelled much of the conversation with their stories and anecdotes. Harry was very happy to see them again.

When they had finished lunch and cleared the plates from the garden table- that had been set up outside to take advantage of the warm weather- the family had split off in bits and pieces. Mr and Mrs Weasley still sat at the table listening, enraptured, to Hermione and Ron going on about Australia. Harry could tell that Ron was once again explaining to Mr Weasley the experience of muggle airplane travel. Ron’s arms were spread wide in demonstration and Mr Weasley eagerly watched his son.

Percy sat with them, along with Charlie, close to his parents. Ginny had told Harry this past week, in hushed undertones as they set the dinner table, that she had heard her dad talking to her mum about Percy. He had become a shadow to Arthur, hanging onto his every word and bringing around lunch for him at the office. Even Harry had noticed that Percy had come to every dinner during the week at the Burrow, doting on Mrs Weasley and paying very little attention to himself and Ginny. Today was no different, Percy had been falling over himself to help his mum.

If there was one thing that Harry thought he could have in common with Percy Weasley, it was a healthy guilt complex.

The rest of the chairs at the table were abandoned. George was on the other side of the Burrow, close to the road leading down into the town, hands clasped behind his back and standing impossibly still. He had been there ever since rising from his chair. Despite his initial resistance, George seemed to have accepted that there would always be someone hanging about to check on him and see if he was okay. He probably stood there, out in the open for so long, so that they all didn’t have to take turns apparating to his flat or going inside the Burrow for check-ups.

Harry could not hold his eyes to the sight of the solitary man for very long. He turned his gaze instead to Bill and Fleur who could be seen through the kitchen window, washing up together. They were laughing and playing as Bill scrubbed and handed off wet plates to Fleur, to be dried. All the muggle way. As he watched, Fleur exclaimed at something that Bill had said and rolled up her towel to hit him. Harry snorted as he saw her land a rather impressive blow on Bill's arm, even though he played it off rather impressively, Harry could see that it must have hurt.

He felt Ginny shift her head off him and looked down only for his gaze to be met by her bright brown eyes, looking up at him. He smiled at her, and she quirked an eyebrow, to which he just shook his head and lay back down, more comfortably, against the trunk of the tree. He inhaled deeply, savouring the sweet smell of the blossoms that grew overhead, the heady scent of earth and dry grass.

The occasions where he felt normal, didn’t care where his wand was or wasn’t tuned in to each-and-every shuffling and ruffling noise were becoming more frequent. Sometimes he wished he could bottle up afternoons like this and keep them for rainy days or the early hours of the morning when he woke up drenched in sweat and a scream lingered at the tip of his tongue. He hoped she didn’t know it, but Ginny was probably one of the only reasons he was still relatively sane.

He looked back down at her, copper hair falling over his upper body, not simply _red,_ but red with orange and some blonde too, a few brown streaks- every shade of brown- running throughout. It seemed to glow in the sun. He seemed also to be able to count the new freckles that had arisen on her exposed arms on legs from being in the sun for not even half a day. She would probably complain about them later and try some charm from Witch Weekly to dull them, but he hoped she didn’t, he loved the way they travelled across her skin, so unique, so _Ginny._

They remained that way for a while. Harry with his eyes closed and thumb rubbing absentmindedly on Ginny’s back. He only shifted after a while to get rid of a stone that had been digging into his shoulder, and as he opened his eyes and adjusted himself he was once again met with the sight of Charlie Weasley, staring at them, one hand over his mouth as he contemplated them, one of his ankles crossed over on top of the other knee.

‘Should I go and say something to Charlie? He really has been staring at us for quite a while.’

‘I think fame has gone to your head, Potter, not everyone is obsessed with you,’ Ginny mumbled against him, not sounding very bothered.

‘Gin- ‘Harry began, but before he could reply to her, she was sitting up, sliding next to him and then shouting across the yard.

‘Oi, Charlie! Come here will you?’

‘Ginny!’

Ginny looked back at Harry, expectant look on her face, as if saying that if he didn’t want a fuss made, he shouldn’t have made a fuss. She covered his hand with hers and they both turned their gaze to Charlie who was striding towards them confidently, no matter the manner of his summoning.

Ginny spared no chance for Charlie to say anything first as he arrived at their tree, looking down expectantly at them both.

‘Hi Charlie, this is Harry Potter. You probably don’t know him; he hasn’t done anything very notable in his life yet. In fact, what he often claims as his most remarkable achievement, is dating me.’ Ginny said, tone matter of fact.

Both Harry’s and Charlie’s jaws dropped slightly at Ginny’s introduction. She didn’t skip a beat when she turned to Harry and continued, ‘Harry, this is my brother Charlie. He’s a dragon tamer in Romania, that’s why you don’t see much of him.’

Harry and Charlie looked at Ginny, confusion on their faces. Harry was on the verge of reminding Ginny that he had indeed met Charlie before when Charlie held out his hand to him, a smile on his face.

‘Nice to meet you, Harry.’

Alright, if this was a game, he was going to play. Harry gave Ginny one last look and then took Charlie’s hand, shaking it.

‘You too, Charlie. So, Romania then? That must be exciting.’

‘It’s my dream-job really. We don’t do stuff like ride the dragons around or anything though, anyone who does that is barmy if you ask me.’

Harry let out a bark of laughter. ‘I’m sure there are special circumstances that call for such things, but, yeah, you would have to be barmy to ride a dragon,’ he replied coolly, feeling a bit more relaxed.

‘So, Gin-Gin, when did you and darling Harry here get together?’ Charlie asked as he sat down facing them, legs splayed out before him and his arms, almost tan with the number of freckles spread across them, supporting his weight.

‘My fifth year,’ Ginny answered. Charlie raised his eyebrows, clearly not expecting them to have been involved for so long. ‘Then we had a bit of a rough patch last year, but that was mostly due to some bald, fanatical git getting in between us. Just picking up where we left off now.’ She finished, looking at Harry and smiling.

Charlie laughed at Ginny’s summary of the past year, then turned to Harry and asked him if he knew about the time Ginny had set fire to the whole living room when she was six years old, Harry glanced at Ginny, a smile tugging at his lips upon seeing her mortified expression.

‘You see, she was having a tantrum because mum told her that she didn’t have the address to where one- completely unrelated to you, I’m sure- Harry Potter, lived, and so she couldn’t send her proposal…’

Charlie went on for a while. It seemed he had an inexhaustible number of stories to humiliate his sister, and all before she turned the age of eleven no less. A few stories in, Ginny had simply laid down flat on the grass with a groan, covering her eyes and offering the occasional ‘It wasn’t like that!’, ‘Sod off Charlie’ and other, more colourful, interjections.

Harry felt bad for her, but he was far too interested in Charlie’s stories to refuse to listen to them. It was not only a glimpse into the person that Ginny was, but a glimpse into the family life the Weasley’s shared that had always eluded Harry. Even when Charlie mentioned the twins, Harry felt less of a pit in his stomach and more of a fond remembrance for what George and Fred had done together.

After a while their conversation, much to Ginny’s delight, turned to other topics. Reminiscing on other family stories, Charlie and Ginny eagerly told him of their antics, recounting scenarios with waving hands and exaggerated facial expressions.

Charlie told them about his Hogwarts days. A lot of his stories ended in him snogging someone, it seemed. Harry had always supposed that Charlie’s perpetual bachelorhood was derived from a principle of celibacy or something else unconventional, perhaps even a lifelong promise to love dragons, and dragons only. Harry didn’t know why he thought this, but it was rather jarring to hear about Charlie's romantic escapades and abandon his old perception of the second eldest Weasley.

It was still fascinating to hear about his time at Hogwarts, where the most high stakes event was the quidditch house cup. Sure, most of his stories were not as wild as slaying a basilisk, or running from an army of giant spiders, but they were fascinating to Harry in how _ordinary_ they were, what Hogwarts could have been like for him if the prophecy had never existed.

They had been sitting together for a while when Harry noticed that whatever misgivings Charlie may have harboured against him appeared to have eased. They laughed together beneath the cherry tree, Ginny now leaning against his chest as he sat back against the trunk, relaxed. The sun sank slowly, still bathing them in warmth, and for a second, Harry saw a part of the old joy of the Burrow return. Certainly, it was not the same, it was never going to be the same, but it could always get better.

After what felt like minutes, but was most likely a few hours, had passed, Harry looked back up to see George looking at the three of them from across the Burrow, the faintest of smiles on his face.

Hermione and Ron were still talking quietly to Mr and Mrs Weasley and Percy. Hermione had her head bent on Ron’s shoulder, looking so peaceful, letting soft conversation and summer haze wash over her. Ron simply looked as if his sole purpose in life was to provide Hermione that shoulder to lean on, and immensely proud of that he was too.

A noise by the kitchen door drew Harry’s attention then, and he saw Bill, standing in the doorway and scanning the yard, before his eyes settled on Charlie, back still turned to the house.

‘Charlie!’ Bill yelled, ‘Come in here and explain to Fleur how we managed to put that hole in the kitchen ceiling, she won’t believe it!’

Charlie turned to Bill as he bellowed out to him, then turned back to Harry and Ginny. ‘Duty calls, sprogs.’

He got up and brushed his hands free of grass, stretched his arms and then started to make his way to said hole-in-the-kitchen-ceiling.

Before he was out of earshot however, he turned his head to speak.

‘You know, Harry, I met someone who looked just like you once.’

‘Yeah?’

‘Yeah. You look a lot happier though.’

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to everyone who read and reviewed my first story, and this one. It was very exciting to see that people enjoyed reading what I very much enjoyed writing :)


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